The intense pressure and anticipation faced when buying a ticket to this famous festival is something I know well. In 2018 I set alarm after alarm to make sure I was on the website ready and waiting for the sale to start. You’re hyper aware of the demand this place has and it's only getting the confirmation email when can you finally take a breath of relief. For lots of people Glastonbury is more than a festival. Some people need the week to escape the reality of work deadlines and ever-growing to-do lists. It’s a place to get engaged – like the couple I saw as Liam Gallagher sang Wonderwall – and even get married. Going to the festival as a kid, for me, it’s almost like a second home.
Fallow years are when fields are left inactive, it’s a chance for farmland to recover. At Worthy Farm they usually occur every five years. Not since coronavirus. When the festival was cancelled for the second year running, Paul Reed, CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals (AIF) said: “You have to consider its global and cultural significance – it’s the largest green-field festival in the world, and it could set the tone in terms of public confidence for festivals going ahead this year.”
In a statement, released back in January, organisers Michael and Emily Eavis said: “In spite of our efforts to move heaven and earth, it has become clear that we simply will not be able to make the festival happen this year. We are so sorry to let you all down.”
Music lovers everywhere, including myself, were gutted to hear the news. James Warner, 30, originally from New Zealand went to the festival for the first time in 2019 and compared getting tickets to winning the lottery. He explains how he is now planning his life around the Glastonbury dates for 2022: “I felt that it was inevitable that it would be cancelled, both years. I won’t live in London forever, and I am afraid that I will miss my chance to get to the festival again.”
Molly Jacobs, 25, from Manchester doesn’t know what she’s missing. Her first Glastonbury was meant to be in 2020: “Now I’m in a more financially able position to go, it was supposed to be a celebration of completing my midwifery studies. A lot of my friends or people I know have been before and say it’s the ‘best place on earth’.”
James is confident the festival scene “will be back and bigger than ever,” and Molly hopes 2022 “ends up being the biggest and best year possible because everyone will be desperate to have fun!”
They both want things to get back to the way it used to be, but what is arguably more devasting, is the impact the cancellations have had on small, local businesses and the thousands of workers who face another year of lost income. Ben Miller, alongside his brother Tom, founded The Gravy Train, a Sheffield based street food business, they started trading at the festival in 2017: “Glastonbury is a massive financial boost for us. It is the most intense week of the year, but also the most profitable. Some festivals charge an eye-watering amount to trade, but they are very fair in our experience.”
Ben and his brother Tom
“Thankfully, we did receive a grant in the summer, which went some way to covering our losses, but that money has since dried up in expenses and we are set to miss out on that money again this year.”
Festivals under AIF bring around £386m to the UK economy each year. Businesses who work with or for festivals are thought to receive almost 10% of that figure. Ben adds: “It's certainly been a difficult period, but a lot of business would have failed were it not for the government’s assistance, the help has gone quite a long way. We are already getting a lot of offers for work for the second half of the summer, and I think, with the pent-up demand, the events industry will bounce back and show its resilience.”
The future of the festival industry is unclear, nobody will know the full impact the pandemic has caused for businesses and festivals until it is over. But for now, Ben and his brother have been rolled over to trade at the festival in 2022 and say: “It is too important as a cultural event for it to fall by the wayside, so we are confident it will survive this period. I think whatever happens there will always be a Glastonbury festival.”
For more information on festivals that are planned to go ahead this year go here, for details on how you can celebrate Glastonbury Festival 2021 go here, and for updates on coronavirus go here.
*some names in this article have been changed*
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